Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/78

70 make a stronger impression upon the mind than any mere declaration of the means by which such an elevation is to be gained. This we shall attempt to do.

Ann Liston was the daughter of a poor mechanic, who had a large family and a small income. The father was industrious, and so was his wife; but the income was so small, and the wants so many, that, with all their industry and efforts to save, they could get nothing ahead. As soon as Ann was old enough to do any thing useful, she was under the necessity of assisting her mother. She was not over nine years of age when first obliged to work about the house, or to nurse the baby. But she was handy and willing, and this made her very useful to her mother, notwithstanding she was so young. The condition of Ann necessarily excluded her from the advantages of a good education. She went to school only a few quarters, and merely learned to read and to write a little, besides gaining some small acquaintance with figures. There was nothing at home to excite a taste for reading, and few books within her reach to gratify that taste, had it been excited. The whole family library consisted of the Bible, Prayer Book, Pilgrim’s Progress, and one or two old books of history and travel. The father